Waldseemueller’s maps (1507) and Zheng He’s integrated map of the world 1418.
Summary
This memo puts forward evidence that the Americas shown on the Waldseemueller maps of 1507 have been copied from “Zheng He’s integrated map of the world 1418”. Low resolution pictures are enclosed with the email version of this memo: a high resolution CD will be posted with the hard copy. The pictures are essential to understanding the argument advanced.
Part I – the 1507 Waldseemueller maps and globes.
Waldseemueller produced a number of maps and globes at the Monastery of Sant Die in Lorraine in 1507. Today at least 4 copies exist – the most famous was acquired by the Library of Congress (LOC) Washington DC from the Waldburg-Woltegg family in Germany in 2003. It is in wood cut sections measuring some 8 foot by 4.5 feet. Other smaller maps are in the James Ford Bell Library; and in Germany; the most recent discovery was sold by Christies to a London dealer in June 2005. All four show the Americas – the first European maps to do so. There are small but significant differences of the depiction of South America on the four maps, in particular Christies version shows the Southern tip of Tierra del Fuego and corrects small latitude and longitude errors shown on the Library of Congress version – to be discussed later.
General structure of the Library of Congress version
The Eastern portion of the map from the Bight of Benin Eastwards incorporates the Martellus forgeries (1489) (described in ‘1421’) and is hence of no interest. The Western section shows North and South America bounded by the Pacific in the West and Atlantic in the East.
Importance of the Waldseemueller map.
The authenticity of the Library of Congress version and the fact that it was published in 1507 “has never been challenged and never will be”(Professor Carol Urness). The immense importance of the map is that it shows the Pacific coast of the Americas from about 55 degrees north to about 45 degrees south with the Rocky Mountains and the Andes drawn along the Pacific coast. These mountains cannot be seen from the Atlantic and so to draw them, ships must have sailed the Pacific coast before 1507 – that is before Magellan set sail (1519), before Balboa “discovered” the Pacific and before the first Europeans Cabrillo and Ferrello sailed along the Pacific coast of N America (1540s) clearly that “someone” was not European and either used massive fleets to survey 100 degrees of coastline or alternatively spent years doing so.
Difficulties in viewing Waldseemueller’s maps and globes.
None of the four maps and globes correspond precisely with each other. In particular the small globe in the 1507 L.O.C version does not tally with the map itself – the Americas have a different shape between one and the other. Waldseemueller’s problem was that he was trying to convert what was on a globe (Christie’s version) onto a flat piece of paper (LOC version). He used a bizarre projection – heart shaped at the top, elliptical at the bottom. The bottom is extended at the tip of South Africa to accommodate the Martellus forgery. Latitude scales vary all over the place – 10 degrees in the far north is more than 4 times 10 degrees of latitude at the equator. Longitude scales towards the N. Pole are one fifth the size they are near the equator. Longitude scales vary at the same latitude – African longitude being larger than America.
Revising Waldseemueller’s projection – from a flat piece of paper to a globe.
Waldseemueller’s prime meridian (360 degrees / 0 degrees) passes through the Canary Islands. I have used Greenwich as the prime meridian as that is what we are used to. This does no injustice to Waldseemueller as I have used his latitudes and longitude scales throughout and his depiction of land masses of the Americas throughout – i.e. using Greenwich rather than Canaries as zero makes no difference at all.
Method
I first photocopied the Americas shown on Waldsemueller’s map in black and white, then marked Waldseemueller’s latitudes and longitudes in colour. I went down the coasts of first South America then North America marking points every 600 miles as A, B, C etc noting Waldseemueller’s latitudes and longitudes at each point. These points are shown in Annex I. Point A is 2.5 degrees N, 90 degrees W; B is 5 degrees N and 80 degrees W and so on. Please look at the following two diagrams.
1 shows Waldseemueller’s map.
2 The black and white photocopy showing lats and longs and points A,B,C etc.
So we now have Waldseemueller’s coordinates for the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of South and North America in a table. (Annex I). The third step is to take these coordinates and use them to re-create South and North America on a globe. Diagram 3 shows the results.
As may be seen, Waldseemueller’s depiction of North and South America on a globe is astonishingly accurate. S America’s position relative to Africa is correct, landmass is correct, the shape (which encompasses the Galapagos islands) is instantly recognisable, the Rockies and Andes are in their correct position, the shape of Central America is broadly correct. There are two errors – the Venezuelan Coast is shown 10 degrees too far South and Patagonia 8 degrees too far east. Both of these errors were corrected on the Christies 1507 version.
Summary
The “someone” who charted the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North and South America and West Africa was able to determine latitude and longitude along some 23,000 miles of coast line – and at a time when Europeans could not determine longitude and before they had set sail for the Pacific.
Part II – Zheng He’s integrated map of the world 1418. (“Zheng He’s map”)
This map was purchased by Mr. Liu Gang, a distinguished Chinese lawyer and map collector from a Shanghai map dealer in 2001. Slide 4 is a colour photocopy of the map. (The white arrow pointing S is my addition).
Brief characteristics.
The map is of two overlapping hemispheres. The central point of the overlap, i.e. the prime meridian, is the East coast of Korea, about 145 degrees east. Zheng He’s map has correct land masses at 40 degrees N and 40 degrees S. It shows every continent of the world in its correct relative position save from Australia which is too far east.
Part III – Comparing the 1418 map and Waldseemueller’s depiction of the Americas.
Step 1 – show the two maps with the same prime meridian.
Zheng He’s map has the hemisphere showing Americas to the East of China. Waldseemueller has the Americas to the West of Africa. We in the West traditionally show the two hemispheres of the world as on Waldseemueller’s map rather than as on Zheng He’s – both are equally accurate. The adjustment is simple.
i) Cut out the left hand hemisphere of Zheng He’s map (Africa to Japan).
ii) Take the former right hand hemisphere of Zheng He’s map (the Americas) and place it to the left of the former left hand hemisphere – i.e. the two hemispheres reversed in position.
The result is shown in diagram 5. As may be seen, Zheng He’s depiction of South America’s mass and position relative to Africa is the same as Waldseemueller’s.
Zheng He’s depiction of South America
At first sight it appears that Zheng He’s orientation and shape of South America differs from Waldseemueller’s. (Compare diagrams 5 and 3). However, both maps are drawn from different perspectives – Zheng He’s landmass is depicted from 40 degrees N (the latitude of Beijing). This can be seen from diagram 6 in which Zheng He’s depiction of the Americas is compared with a modern globe (Encarta). If the globe is now tilted southwards to show the Americas centred on the equator, (diagram 7), South America appears as on the Waldseemueller.
Summary
If the 1418 map and the Waldseemueller are positioned with the same prime meridian and from the same perspective (the equator) the Waldseemueller (1507) depiction of the Americas appears as a copy of Zheng He’s 1418 map.
Gavin Menzies
London
9th December 2005.
View maps: The Waldseemüller map, The Waldseemueller Projection map
